Blue tongue vaccine

helen salmon · Post by **helen salmon** » Wed Oct 15, 2008 2:47 pm

Hi, I have just had a letter from my vet saying my alpacas need to be vaccinated every 6 months, but the dexters only need it every 12 months. It was only after I had put the phone down that I seemed to remember reading on here that the blue tongue vaccination was a one-off for life and if a cow is pregnant at the time the protection would pass on to the calf. Am I dreaming, or does anyone else remember this?
Helen

Sylvia · Post by **Sylvia** » Wed Oct 15, 2008 3:44 pm

The info I've had says that cattle and alpacas need 2 injections (to start off with and sheep only need one and then there is a single booster every year after that

Sylvia · Post by **Sylvia** » Wed Oct 15, 2008 3:57 pm

Sorry, that is 2 doses 3 or 4 weeks apart to start with for cows and alpacas and then an annual booster after that. Where did your vet get the different info about alpacas from ?

Duncan MacIntyre · Post by **Duncan MacIntyre** » Wed Oct 15, 2008 4:15 pm

I can't thow any light on the matter of Alpaca's, but cattle definitely need two doses 4 weeks apart for the Merial vaccine and 3 weeks for the Intervet one, whilst sheep need only one. The data sheets are a bit woolly on the subject of boosters, both say that duration of immunity has not been established but suggest a booster at least 2 weeks before each risk period, whatever that means.

The use in any species other that cattle or sheep is off-licence and vets using it in anything else will probably be relying on verbal info from the manufacturers.

Duncan

davidw · Post by **davidw** » Wed Oct 15, 2008 4:42 pm

Sorry that this is not positive info, but my brother - who is a vet - informed me when he injected our Dexters that his practice has had two Alpaca's die after administering the blue tongue vaccine. Their temperature's rose dramatically after the vaccination and they died the next day. A friend had the same thing happen with one of her sheep.

Duncan MacIntyre · Post by **Duncan MacIntyre** » Wed Oct 15, 2008 6:46 pm

Whilst a good uptake of vaccine is important to create a population which will not support an outbreak, some small pockets of unvaccinated susceptible animals will not make a serious difference to the great scheme of things. The Scottish scheme is compulsory for sheep and cattle, but not for other species for which the vaccines are not licenced, but vets are being encouraged to encourage owners to vaccinate.

Stories of adverse reactions are always difficult to evaluate - there have been scares regarding BT vaccine causing abortions, but at the end of the day the usual causes of abortions go on as ever, and some of them will inevitably follow some BT vaccinations. A death closer to the time of administration of the vaccine is more difficult to account for and should certainly be being investigated as an adverse reaction - all vets have forms to report this sort of thing. The last one I used was for a dairy cow which dropped dead in the parlour within a few minutes of having an injection of Mamyzin for mastitis. We think the needle although used as for intramuscular injection must inadvertantly have been put into a vein within the muscle, and the injection gone direct into the bloodstream. Such reactions are very rare but also very distressing to those involved - but they should not necessarily put us off using medicines which are on the whole very safe.

Duncan

Sylvia · Post by **Sylvia** » Wed Oct 15, 2008 7:07 pm

I have not used BT vaccine on any of my animals yet because by the time it became available in Wales I was advised by my vet that the time for infection was nearly over for this year. This is contradicted by a letter from the Welsh Assembly who are insisting that we should ALL vaccinate everything now. And doing their best to lay a guilt trip on any irresponsible farmer who does not. Politics or good practice ? ???

nuttalls · Post by **nuttalls** » Wed Oct 15, 2008 7:28 pm

our vet said the same, and we were bt zoned late.although he said to leave it we agreed, but yet one of our sheep got fly strike. luckily the other midge didnt arrive thank god. and think our vet doesn.t best!!

Louisa Gidney · Post by **Louisa Gidney** » Thu Oct 16, 2008 10:02 am

There are still lots of midges flying where my cattle are on summer keep so I'm really glad I got everything vaccinated for my peace of mind. Over 100 sheep & 15 cattle were done and no adverse reaction by anything.

Martin · Post by **Martin** » Fri Oct 17, 2008 9:03 am

One of the reasons for there not being a severe outbreak of blue tongue is that the vast majority of farmers in the South East vacinated as soon as the vacine was available. Its a shame that the rest of the country hasn't followed suit. I have heard of no adverse reaction from the vacine and I believe some of the stories are an excuse from people who can't be bothered to do the job.
There have been a couple of outbreaks in imported animals, I'm not woried as my stock has been vacinated so am not at risk, ARE YOU.
If you do not vacinate when product is available you have no one to blame but yourself if your stock contract the virus. Don't forget, there is no compensation and you will get little sympathy.

Sylvia · Post by **Sylvia** » Fri Oct 17, 2008 11:57 am

I find it offensive to be described as 'can't be bothered' when I am trying to do the best I can for my animals with the information I have. Who should I believe? My vet or the Welsh Assembly. And I do not ignore information which comes from any source, because it is often the only way people with alpacas get any information at all. Had I injected all my alpacas and some had aborted or died I wouldn't get any compensation or sympathy either as the like of you Martin feel able to deny that the vaccine causes any problems. Whether or not it does is something which may not become indisputable for many years and in the meantime it is wrong to criticise those who for whatever reason prefer not to rush to vaccinate at the earliest possible moment.

Bridgehouse · Post by **Bridgehouse** » Sun Oct 19, 2008 8:46 am

I brought up the issue of follow up boosters with our vet. I was advised (some time ago now) that tests were being carried out on those animals vaccinated first to see what the status was on future injections or lifelong immunity etc. Due to the rushing through of the vaccine I think the full effects of the vaccine were not fully known.

Broomcroft · Post by **Broomcroft** » Sun Oct 19, 2008 2:12 pm

Most commercial farmers around here have not vaccinated and most pedigree farmers have, or that's the general trend I believe. It's a lot of money if you have 2000 ewes and all their followers, and the risk appears to be low uless your in the south east like Martin. We vaccinated everything, and as I reported earlier, the only effect we know about was a deadly silence. 120 Dexters and not one single 'moo' for 24 hours, and then just a single one. It took them 48 hours to seem normal again.

Edited By Broomcroft on 1224422191